Gold sat on her haunches, the sounds of nature playing like a gentle lullaby all around her. Again, she found herself sitting in a clearing before the spirit the forest shared a name with. Where the last few times she was summoned before the great wolf she struggled with her lessons, the golden mare felt some progress begin to take form. In the darkness of her closed eyes, she could see flickers of green and the feel the faintest pulse of something beneath her hooves. Instead of feeling frustrated over the minuscule step forward, a sense of peace came over her at the knowledge. The pair of small talons she felt settling onto her back brought a small smile to her face, the birdsong that followed almost bringing a small giggle past her lips.

Never before had she felt so light, so at peace.

"You are much more at ease now," Gaia noted from where she sat, eyes closed. "I take it things have finally improved for you, as of late."

Gold nodded, eyes still closed and relaxed smile gracing her muzzle.

"Good," Gaia smiled. "Though I am willing to bet that the party last night had little to do with your change."

Gold's smile wilted slightly at that, her eyes opening to give the Elder Spirit her full attention.

"I am sure Hazel has already told you, but last night, I had an...episode."

"She did," Gaia nodded, opening her eyes and looking down at her student with concern. "I have never seen her look so shaken before."

"She was not the only one," Gold sighed. "Applejack was equally unnerved when she found me. When she managed to calm me down, she gathered the older members of the family and we spent a good portion of the night talking. I told them about everything that happened in Canterlot, everything that I did in my past life and what led to my current circumstances."

"Ah, I see," Gaia nodded sagely. "And how was it taken?"

"Differently than I was expecting at the time," she chuckled. "Instead of being reviled, they still accepted me as a member of their family and were even willing to help me recover."

"But of course," Gaia chuckled. "You are an Apple, and Apples are never abandoned by their kin. Unless you fall back to you old ways, I doubt they will ever abandon you."

"I know that with true certainty now," Gold nodded, then giggled as she added, "Especially after they met Skully."

"Skully? Your skeleton?" Gaia blinked.

"Yes," Gold giggled. "That, was an adventure in and of itself."

"Oh?" Gaia smirked, raising a brow. "Do tell."

***

Gold happily trotted through the wreckage that had once been her room towards the wardrobe sitting in the far corner of the room, her family not far behind her. Like a filly at Hearths Warming Eve, she excitedly fidgeted in place as she waited for them at its side. When they did, she gave the lone piece of furniture a hard knock that rattled its doors and made The Apples jump.

"Skully, wake up!" she exclaimed, beaming. "I have some ponies here that would like to meet you."

The Apples flinched when some eery rattling came out of the wardrobe, but Gold only scoffed at it.

"Why would I lie about such a thing?" she huffed. "Now do be dear and at least try to be civil."

More hollow rattling came from the wardrobe along with the faint sound of fabric shifting.

"Yes it is late," Gold frowned. "But I believe such a thing is irrelevant for somepony with your disposition."

A pause, then more rattling before a loud "thunk!" came out of the wardrobe.

Gold gave a curt nod, them smiled apologetically at the gathered ponies.

"I am so sorry about that. I promise, she is not normally this difficult."

Before they could respond, Gold threw open the door with a flourish. Her guests all reflexively jumped back when a skull rolled out of the wardrobe onto the floor. Clicking her tongue in disapproval, Gold scooped up the skull and glared down at it.

"Must you make this more difficult?" she snipped. "They are your family as well, after all."

The skull simply rattled in response, earning an eye-roll out of the miffed mare.

"Really Skully? A pun?"

Another rattle greeted her.

Shaking her head with a sigh, she leveled a sheepish smile at her family and aimed the face of the skull at them.

"Applejack, Big Macintosh, Granny Smith, this is Skull Root, or Skully as I affectionately dub her."

"Er, howdy," Applejack nodded, smiling awkwardly.

Big Mac simply nodded in greeting, a small clearing of his throat the only open sign of his discomfort with the current situation.

Granny gave the skull a crooked smile and cackled, "Nice ta' meet ya' youngin'! Ah'd shake yer' hoof, but-"

Granny's quip was cut short when the bones needed to make a complete foreleg fell out of the wardrobe, the hoof rolling up to Granny's own. Granny stared down at the bone, then shrugged as she picked it up and gave it a hardy shake. The skull rocked back and forth in Golds grip, the mare in question giggling a little at the scene. Applejack and Big Mac stared at their grandmother in shock, both struggling to understand how she could be so blasé about this situation.

Noticing, Granny gave them stern looks and said, "Now Ah know Ah raised ya' two ta' be more civil than that. When ya' meet a new pony, ya' better shake their hoof."

As she said that, she hoofed the appendage in question to her grandfoals. Staring dumbly at it for a second, Applejack was the first to recover and take the offered hoof. She shook it as if it were still attached to a pony before she awkwardly offered it to her brother. He was just as uncomfortable as she was as he repeated the gesture. A startled yelp came out of him, just before he dropped it. Any question or reprimand his family had for him died on their tongues when the hoof and all of the rest of the leg bones on the floor suddenly hopped back into the wardrobe.

They stared dumbfounded at it while Gold gave Skully a raised brow.

"Rather impressive for a pony that claims to need her beauty sleep to function."

The skull gave its usual rattled response.

"Why must you PUN?!" she groaned.

"What did she say?" Granny asked with a crooked smile and raised brow.

Gold leveled a deadpan at the skull, then bitterly muttered, "That when Big Macintosh held her hoof, she got a boner."

Silence met that response, Big Mac even more uncomfortable knowing that a possible revenant was interested in him. It was soon broken when Granny said something that everypony present, sans Skully, agreed with whole heartedly.

"Hon, that there joke was terrible and you should feel terrible for makin' it."

***

"I was not aware Skully was sentient," Gaia blinked.

"But of course," Gold scoffed. "Why else would I talk to her? I may be damaged, but not to that degree."

"You thought this, "Pinkie Pie" pony was a hallucination, correct?" she smirked.

"You clearly have not met her," Gold frowned.

"I have heard tales," Gaia shrugged. "Clear exaggerations if I have ever heard them. Only Discord and Hearths Warming have the power to open gaps or other such elder magics."

"I do not know what you mean by "gaps", but if Lord Discord can summon them, then I am certain my cousin could do it as well."

"Let us hope not," Gaia shivered. "I am still trying to pick up the toys that clown left in my forest. More than one creature with his kind of powers would be the death of us all."

"Or undeath in some cases," Gold snorted.

"Which brings us back to Skully," the elder wolf frowned. "How is it that she can exist in the first place?"

"I am not sure," Gold mused, tapping her chin with a hoof. "We both think it has something to do with my curse, a technicality that Discord never considered at the time."

Intrigued, Gaia gestured for her to continue with a nod.

"It is theorized that a pony is still technically alive for ten seconds after being decapitated. All of the nerve endings and five senses are still fully functional up until the sudden drop in blood pressure causes the brain to go into shock and death finally comes for them. I can confirm that all of this is true and that...having insects strip the meat from your face is absolutely horrible."

"I...would imagine so," Gaia cautioned.

Gold nodded, then solemnly continued.

"Because of that fact, the curse most likely did not know which part of me it was supposed to focus on. My head was technically alive, but constantly being eaten by beetles, while my body was still somewhat intact. We believe that the curse pulled my soul towards my body while some of my magic fused with part of the curse and stayed inside my skull. When Moonstone Dagger put my bones up on display in her study, it spread to the rest of them and Skull Root came to be."

"An interesting theory, to be sure," Gaia mused. "I suppose that would also explain how she can move, even in such a limited fashion."

"Oh, no, she is just lazy," Gold muttered, waving away Gaia's words. "She can move about just as well as anypony else when she fully assembles herself."

"She can... assemble herself?" Gaia blinked.

"When she can be bothered," Gold huffed.

"I... see," the elder wolf nodded, a worried edge entering her tone. "Are you certain that she can do that and it was not one of your hallucinations?"

"Yes," Gold frowned. "A few good smacks across the face more than confirmed it."

"Smacks?"

"Apparently, Skully felt it was what needed to be done to stop me from screaming."

***

Gold hummed a happy tune to herself, a clear early afternoon sun shining brightly above her through the orchard's canopy. The comforting energies she felt from the surrounding trees added to her good mood, brining an extra spring to her step as she made her way towards her new home. That simple shift in dynamics added to the joy and liberation she had felt since waking up this morning. Not even the fact that she had done so on the living room sofa had put a damper on her good mood. Add the fact that she was finally making progress in her lessons with Gaia , Gold was on cloud nine. She felt that absolutely nothing could bring her down.

That was proven wrong the second she made it to the house's front door.

As she pulled open the door, two ponies met her on the way out. One was a now mildly panicking Applejack and the other was a surprised light purple Unicorn mare. Gold took a quick step back, her eyes flicking back and forth between the mare's eyes and horn. Her heart hammered in her chest, but she refused to show the mare any fear. She did take a mental note of all of the places she could flee to, if the need arose though.

"H-Howdy Gold," Applejack nervously chuckled. "Wasn't expectin' ya back so soon."

"Gaia told me to take the rest of the day off," she stiffly responded, then nodded towards the mare and asked, "One of your friends I would presume?"

"Oh! Sorry about that," the mare awkwardly chuckled. "I'm Starlight Glimmer."

As she said that, she put a hoof out to shake.

"Gold Vine," she frowned, taking another step back and ignoring the offered hoof. "May I ask what your business is here and for how much longer do you intend to linger?"

Starlight blinked, letting her hoof fall back to the ground as she struggled to make sense of Gold's question.

"Wow, formal much?" she muttered under her breath, then in a louder tone said, "Applejack asked me to fix a room that got torn up and I was just on my way out."

"I see," Gold nodded, a faint sigh of relief slipping past her muzzle. "I would assume it was my room, correct?"

While Gold was still staring at Starlight, Applejack could tell that the question was directed mostly at her. She nodded, the action adding a small bit of warmth to Gold's rigid demeanor. The question seemed to click something into place for Starlight, a hint of realization sparking in her eyes. A sliver of paranoia tickled the back of Gold's mind at that, her body subtly shifting into a defensive stance. To her surprise, Starlight stepped backwards into the house and out of the way of the door.

"Do you want to see?" Starlight asked sheepishly. "I've...never used my magic to fix something as big as a room before and I want to make sure I didn't miss anything before I left."

Gold eyed her suspiciously then said, "I am sure you did well. If I notice that anything is out of place, I will ask Applejack to let you know at her earliest convenience."

With that, she forced her way past the two mares and almost galloped further into the house towards her room. When a loud slam echoed through the house, Starlight gave Applejack a worried look while the farmer just let out a relieved sigh.

"That's your cousin?" Starlight asked, pointing in the general direction of Gold's room.

"Eeyup," Applejack somberly frowned, staring in the direction Starlight was pointing.

"She's...different from what I was expecting," she stated lamely, letting her hoof fall.

"She grew up differently from most Apples," Applejack sighed, stepping through the front door. "Ah'll tell ya' what Ah can on the way to the castle."

Seeing little reason to argue, she nodded and followed.

Neither of them said a word for several long minutes, the two mares walking side by side with one trying to find her words while the other patiently waited. At least, on the surface Starlight was patient. She couldn't quite put her hoof on it, but something about Gold didn't sit well with her. She knew that Applejack said that her cousin was "jumpy" around magic, but Gold's reactions to her were on par with somepony preparing for an attack. She knew she needed to let her friend talk at her own pace, but the wait was eating at her more and more by the second. It wasn't until they came to the beaten path between Sweet Apple Acres and Ponyville that Applejack started to speak.

"Ah can't say much, so if'n Ah say Ah can't answer a question, that's it. Got it?"

Starlight nodded, a bit shaken by her friend's stern tone.

"Before she moved in, Gold was hurt really badly by a Unicorn. The whole thin' gave her a huge magic phobia. Heck, it took a ton of convincin' to let Rarity get her measurements for a new cloak."

"How did you manage that?" Starlight blinked, "I mean, Rarity uses her magic all the time for that kind of thing, so..."

"She used her hooves," Applejack snorted, smiling faintly. "Was real clumsy at it too. Ah thought Gold was gonna snap at her when she got the tape around her neck."

Starlight cringed at that, all too familiar with that particular handicap of her tribe. When you had the skills and precise dexterity that levitation provided, why use your hooves? She was one of the few Unicorns that strived to avoid this weakness, but it still proved to be a difficult hill to climb in most cases. She could only imagine just how tall that hill was for a Unicorn who's magic was so heavily linked to their natural talent.

Applejack's smile fell as she continued, eyes falling to the ground as she walked.

"We wanna help her, but Ah don't know where to start. Shelterin' her won't help, but Ah don't know how to ease her out of the pit she's in. Ah'd ask Twi for help, but..."

"I get it," Starlight frowned, staring at the ground in thought as she walked. "If a normal Unicorn scares her, than an Alicorn would be a nightmare for her. Does anypony else know about her?"

Applejack nodded.

"Outside of the family, Fluttershy's met her."

"There we go!" Starlight smirked, leveling a knowing look as she pointed a hoof at her friend. "If anypony can help ease Gold out of this, it'd be Fluttershy."

Applejack mulled that over for a long second, a part of her bucking herself for not thinking of such an obvious option. Obvious under normal circumstances at least. Between Gold's stubborn secrecy and Fluttershy's generally timid nature, it was hard for her to think that any progress could be made. At the same time, she couldn't think of any other pony that could make any progress without drawing further attention to her cousin.

"Ah guess that's at least a start," she sighed. "Thanks Starlight."

"No problem," Starlight smiled. "Anything else I can do for you?"

Applejack thought about that for a second, then sheepishly asked, "Do ya think you can keep Twi away from the farm?"

Starlight sucked in her lips at that.

"That...might be a lot to ask," she nervously chuckled. "She's heard about the Timberwolves you've taken in and has been talking about studying them the last couple of days."

That set off a dozen alarm bells in the farmer

Applejack knew that it was only a matter of time before Twilight found out about the Timberwolves, but she didn't know such a chance encounter was so close. If what Gold said was true, the fallout of the two meeting would not be pretty. That was assuming the Timberwolves didn't see The Princess of Friendship as a threat to the mare they were bonded to. She didn't even want to imagine what kind of damage that could do to everypony involved, especially if a certain neighboring nature spirit decided to get involved.

"Could you..at least give us a heads up?" Applejack urgently asked.

Starlight leaned back a bit at that, shaken a little by the worry she saw in the farmer's eyes.

"That...I think I can do that," she nervously nodded. "I've been working on a spell that works like Spike's dragon fire, for when he's not around. I still have a few tweaks I need to work out of it, but I should have it ready in a couple days."

"That's good to hear," Applejack sighed, a small smile forming on her muzzle as she visibly relaxed.

"And if she heads out to see you before then, I'll teleport ahead of her to warn you."

Applejack's smile grew, some of the gloom that had clung onto the mare all day finally fading out of her as she pulled the Unicorn into a one-legged hug as they walked. Starlight squawked at that while Applejack just laughed, both of them nearly falling over from the sudden shift in balance.

"Ah owe ya big for this Starlight," Applejack beamed. "And Ah intend to make good on that."

"Just...being a good friend," she nervously chuckled, still not quite used to such forward acts from ponies.

"Nope! Ah insist," Applejack smirked, still holding the mare to her side.

"But-"

"Nope!"

"I mean-"

"Nu-uh!"

A moment of silence, then Starlight let out a defeated sigh and asked, "I'm really not going to talk you out of this, am I?"

"Enope!" the farmer chuckled just as they climed a small hill and Ponyville started to come into view

Author's Note

A new chapter up and ready and I just turned 30. Pretty nice day all things considered. (Uh oh...)